CES 2016: Playstation VR Hands-On

The last time I played with the Playstation VR, it was still called Project Morpheus. Back at E3 2014, the heavily anticipated VR headset wasn’t the most comfortable, and was demoed using only single player games. Since my last encounter, the headset’s inner padding has become more comfortable, and the headset took a lot less time to put on. Just two years ago, it took four hands to efficiently put the headset on – this year, it took Sony representative Craig a matter of seconds to secure the device on our heads.

Much like the Nintendo 3DS, there can be bad angles with the 3D. If the PSVR is off balance (whether horizontally or vertically), a wonderful wave of eye strain and blurry imagery attacks your face. Thankfully, it takes minimal effort to adjust it back into clarity; the PSVR has gotten rid of the small gap below the eyes/on top of the cheeks, as well. Once you’re strapped in and are seeing clearly, the PSVR experience is pretty solid.

I have to say, I’m pretty fortunate the people around me were people I knew. Without even thinking about it, I began to look around frantically. I even looked under my chair (which to my surprise, I was greeted by a gaggle of cute little robots), which according to Craig, not a single soul went that far. The Play Room homescreen had little drones flying around the environment, as well.. And yes, I did start launching my arms towards them in attempt to catch them. This happened frequently throughout the demo. If all of this occurred in front of countless random strangers, I may have been a tad embarrassed!

If you got rid of these, grab them now while they’re cheap! Looks like you’ll need them.

The game we played was a four player game in which I was a cat, and the other three players were mice (using the DualShock 4 controller). The three non-VR players had to run around, attempting to collect all the cheese without getting caught. I would lean forward to pop out from behind a curtain and try to catch them in the act. If they didn’t hide under something when I popped out, I’d pull them back into my lair, and it was game over.

Even without having built-in headphones like the Royole-X Smart Mobile Theater, the Playstation VR was a pure, fun experience. Putting on the headset instantly drops you into a separate world, making you forget you have a headset on, and looking silly to everyone else around you. With Kaz Harai announcing that “there are over 100 games in development,” I hope Sony truly delivers on this, both on price point, and content.